


Retrospective Photography

by groomp



Category: The Grand Tour (TV) RPF, Top Gear (UK) RPF
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Jeremy needs a hug, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Train Ride, picture reference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:35:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28408608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/groomp/pseuds/groomp
Summary: Jeremy has some thoughts while on a train with James.
Relationships: Jeremy Clarkson & James May, Jeremy Clarkson & Richard Hammond & James May
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	Retrospective Photography

**Author's Note:**

> honestly I just saw this tweet from Jeremy in 2015 and the caption totally meant something else about the train changing route iirc but out of context it just looks so wholesome and cute that I had to write this at 2AM so here you go

  
  
Jeremy sighed contentedly as he leaned back in his seat across James, watching the scenery go by outside their window. Some time had passed after they’d stopped talking, reminding Jeremy that apparently, you can run out of things to say and just enjoy the ride.  


He’d had an absolutely shite year. Crumbling marriage, the death of his mum, general stress all threatened to bring him down to his knees every single day. And every single day, he grew more grateful for the two best mates a man could ever have. Some days, when it was all too much, when James arrived on his doorstep with wine and a DVD or Richard took him out for curry and drinks, he would pause for a moment and blink, absolutely staggered that they existed in his life. Small moments suspended in time, yet holding so much meaning.

That day was one such moment, it occurred to him while the trees whizzed by outside. Here he was, nearing 60 but not quite there yet, could have been an ordinary boring bloke with an ordinary boring office job, passing by the world and nobody would realize he had even been there. His eyes found themselves wandering over to James, half on his phone and half gazing outside.

What if he’d never met James, or Richard, or Andy, or anyone? What if they’d been born in separate countries, or different times? Richard was around a decade younger than them, what if it’d been more? Would Top Gear, or his life, have been the same if some things were mixed around? Would it even exist?

They were so lucky to have been born so close to each other. Jeremy could have just as easily been born in the 1500s, for all he knew. A lottery of human existence, and he’d won it.

He’d never really thought about what an impact they’d had on his life, and vice versa, until now. 

“What?”

Jeremy blinked, his mind grounding itself in the moment and realizing he was now taking part in a staring contest with one James May.

“Nothing.”

Jeremy swallowed as the man across him narrowed his eyes at him.

“All right?” 

Jeremy’s features softened at James’ question. He and Richard had been far more attentive of Jeremy lately, an unspoken agreement between them. He was honestly touched by the sentiment, even if he himself was a man of actions rather than words.

Jeremy cleared his throat.

“Yeah, yeah.” He nodded, as reassuringly as he could manage. He watched as James smiled once, placed his hand as gently as ever on Jeremy’s arm on the table for a few precious seconds, and resumed his gaze out of the window.

A warm fuzzy feeling grew exponentially louder in Jeremy’s heart, until it was all he could hear. He decided then that this moment had to be captured. Just a moment suspended in time.

As Jeremy sneakily positioned his phone for a photo, that same feeling from before returned to him once more and his heart swole to twice its size. He simply couldn’t believe his life was, well, his life. He snapped the picture and was pleased to see that warm expression on James’ face was captured perfectly.

He was the luckiest man in the world.


End file.
